The Washingtons

July 15, 2015
English biographer Fraser (Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire, 2009, etc.) returns with a portrayal of the relationship of America's first couple. The author undertakes a daunting task with this book. George was famously reserved, always keeping his personal feelings under tight control, and Martha burned almost all the correspondence between George and herself before her death. For source material, Fraser had to look to correspondence to and between others and to documents such as invoices for furniture and clothing ordered from the business agents for the Washington family. The author has produced a joint biography that wisely avoids the thoroughly familiar ground of Washington's career as a general and president, except insofar as necessary to account for the couple's long absences from Mount Vernon. George's efforts to keep his plantations productive under the care of a series of overseers therefore take center stage, along with his difficulties raising Martha's children from her previous marriage, and then the grandchildren who lived with them. The less familiar Martha appears as a capable, strong-willed, affable, and utterly devoted spouse who buoyed her husband's spirits during the war by enduring long stretches with him in the army's winter quarters-not to mention the eight years spent "more like a state prisoner than anything else" in New York and Philadelphia as first lady. Fraser's prose flows well with the voices of her 18th-century subjects. However, the impression that emerges from the copious details of plantation management, children's tutoring, and relatives born and dying is of two busy lives on parallel courses; their devotion to each other is clearly evident, but so are several potential sources of sharp conflict between them. Fraser provides no sense of how these shoals were negotiated or how these formidable individuals actually got on with each other when they could be together. A difficult task crowned with mixed success.

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Starred review from June 1, 2015
Ron Chernow's magisterial Washington (Penguin, 2010) gave us an extremely well rounded portrait of our greatest national icon. A member of a highly regarded British family of biographers and historians now treats us to a more specific aspect of Washington's life in a fresh and highly informative view of Washington the husband. Along with Mary Todd Lincoln, Martha Washington is the most familiar of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century First Ladies, and Fraser's graceful, incisive portrait extends our knowledge of her. The author sees husband and wife as halves of a highly workable partnership that brought great emotional sustenance and security to them both. Martha was a wealthy widow when she married George, but any notion of opportunism on his part quickly dissolves in the face of Fraser's affirming depiction of Martha's unceasing care for George's well-being and his abiding interest in the welfare of her children and grandchildren from her previous marriage. The adage that says behind every strong man stands a strong woman is validated here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2015

After George Washington's death in 1799, his wife, Martha (1731-1802), burned most of their letters. Fraser (Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire) scoured journals and voluminous correspondence with family and friends as well as military, political, and business associates to reveal their story here. Woven into the background of their roles in the history of colonial Virginia, the American Revolution, and the first presidency are accounts of everyday household matters, family high points and heartaches, and estate management issues such as slave labor. An awkward and retiring farmer, George married the beautiful, wealthy widow and became a caring stepfather to her two young children. He grew calm and charming in her presence. Martha was a gracious and affable hostess in addition to being an able manager of her inheritance. Both were temperate and unassuming. Reluctantly serving as commander-in-chief during two increasingly challenging terms as president, George continuously balanced his control of troops and country with concern for Martha's well-being, attention to their extended family, and upkeep of their beloved Mount Vernon. VERDICT Without editorializing, Fraser presents a moving portrayal of the first couple's devoted relationship, their domestic concerns, and a valuable depiction of upper-class 18th-century life that will appeal to readers of popular history.--Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2015

British historian Fraser (Beloved Emma: The Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton) takes on her first American subject, and though we know a lot about George Washington, this intimate portrait of his relationship with his wife, Martha, is something else altogether. Talk about devoted; she was even with her husband at Valley Forge.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.